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Export screen recordings to MP4 or GIF

Click Export in the top bar to open the export dialog.

One settings panel: pick the Format, then the quality and frame rate, plus the GIF size and loop controls. Nothing here changes the project's aspect ratio.

Formats​

  • MP4 — quality 720p, 1080p, or Source; frame rate 24 / 30 / 60 fps; codec H.264.
  • GIF — frame rate 15 / 20 / 25 / 30 fps, size Small / Medium / Large / Original, and a Loop toggle.
note

VP9 was removed. There's no hardware VP9 encoder on the GPUs the native pipeline targets, and the software fallback was far too slow to ship as an option that looks like the others.

Resolution​

The dialog shows the exact pixel size each quality tier will produce, given your timeline's aspect ratio.

Source sizes to the smallest clip's true post-crop footprint, which makes it upscale-proof by construction: no clip on the timeline ever gets stretched past its real resolution. The fixed 720p and 1080p tiers target a short side regardless, so they can still upscale a small clip — the dialog badges the tier when that would happen.

Exporting​

  1. Configure format and quality, then hit Export.
  2. Pick a save location in the native file dialog.
  3. The dialog reports real progress from the encoder: rendered frames out of total, plus an ETA, then a writing phase.
  4. On success, Show in folder jumps straight to the file.

If something fails during render or write, the dialog shows the error so you can retry.

How MP4 is rendered​

MP4 export runs through the same native Rust compositor that draws the live preview — Direct3D 11 on Windows, Metal on macOS, wgpu/WGSL on Linux — one clip at a time, on a single GPU device: demux → decode → composite → encode → mux. On Windows, the AMD (AMF) and NVIDIA (NVENC) encoders take the composed frame straight off the GPU, with no CPU readback in between; Intel Quick Sync, Media Foundation, and the software fallback get a copy in system memory. On macOS, VideoToolbox encodes: an H.264 export is rendered straight into the encoder's own buffer when VideoToolbox allows it, while the H.264 retry path and the software fallback get a copy in system memory. On Linux, an H.264 export goes to the GPU encoder through VAAPI, also without a CPU copy, when the driver stack allows it; otherwise the frame is read back and encoded in software. The preview pauses itself for the duration so the two aren't fighting over the GPU.

Because preview and export consume the same scene description, the frame you're looking at is the frame you get — there is no separate export renderer that could drift.

Platform support

MP4 and GIF export both work on Windows, macOS, and Linux. What differs is speed on Linux: H.264 uses the GPU only when VAAPI and the Vulkan device support it, and falls back to a software encoder otherwise. The MP4 export on Linux note lists what the GPU path needs.

Exported file vs. project file​

Exporting produces a finished, flattened video (or GIF) — it isn't editable afterward. If you want to keep editing later, save a .openscreen project instead (see Editing & timeline); project files keep every clip, zoom, trim, annotation, and setting intact.